Clowns Everywhere In All Sizes, Materials

April 18, 1985|by PHYLLIS GUTH , The Morning Call

No one has to "send in the clowns" to Dr. Elwood Kolb's office. More than 100 clown plates, posters, paintings, puppets, statuettes and needlework examples are on display there. The optometrist, who lives and practices in Allentown, has collected them for the past 18 years.

Even his waiting room, recently redone in Victorian style, reflects his hobby. On the fireplace mantel stands a clown statuette encased in glass. Several clown paintings - one depicting the first "cop clown" in America - figure in the decor.

The item that immediately attracts the eye, however, is the wallpaper mural of a marionette, found accidentally by Kolb. By coincidence, the color and design of the marionette's costume was a perfect match for the striped paper Kolb and his wife Vivian previously ha selected for the room.

Dr. Kolb began collecting clowns after he was attracted to a horn-playing clown with a paper-mache body and porcelain head in a Bucks County shop. Six months later, he saw another clown that he believed would make a good companion piece.

"We expanded from there," he says, pointingto the shelves in his office that house part of his collection. Before long, family members, employees, patients, friends and relatives were buying clowns and making them in different mediums to give to Kolb.

A former employee made for Kolb a string-art representation of a clown as well as a needlework clown portrait. One patient gave him a series of three paintings of clowns wearing glasses.

Plates with circus and clown themes, along with a circus poster found by a patient, contribute to the lively decor and give the patient something cheerful to focus on. Another poster, a reproduction of a Red Skelton clown painting, is signed in two places by the comedian. Kolb believes one signature was printed on the poster; the other, he speculates, might be an authentic autograph.

A female patient, who does clowning, contributed a color photograph of herself in makeup and costume. One painting on display done on velvet and featuring a clownwith a butterfly on his nose was purchased by Kolb's daughter and son-in-law Beverly and George Reinhart of Allentown. The couple had intended to keep it, but ended up giving it to the optometrist.

The collector believes the clowns help his patients feel at home and, therefore, more relaxed and comfortable.

The paintings and statuettes come from all over - including local art shows. A pastel drawing of a clown was purchased from a display at an area restaurant. Another painting came from an art show held in West Park. In the entire collection, Kolb has only two duplicates.

The Kolbs like to bring clowns back from professional conferences in foreign countries where Kolb, who teaches two days a week at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry in Philadelphia, sometimes lectures and presents papers on contact lenses.

Finding clowns is easier today than when Kolb first began collecting, he says. Trying to locate them abroad when time is short represents more of a challenge.

Even Kolb's ceramic tape holder on his desk - a clown whose backside supports the tape - elicits a chuckle. A clown salt-and-pepper set from the shelf behind the desk appears to be one piece until Kolb removes the top part forming the pepper shaker to reveal a salt dish underneath.

The collection includes a clown pillow, a fabric clown, clown cookie jars, banks, music boxes, hobo clowns and a metal clown sculpture. In addition to the traditional clown associated with circuses, Kolb's collection includes harlequin clowns, a court jester and several ceramic statuettes of comedians. Laurel and Hardy are depicted on a mug as well as in a painting.

A pair of comedian statuettes, one of them Harpo Marx, serves as bookends for Kolb's reference books. "I sort of classify clowns and comedians in the same general category," Kolb explains.

A Peruvian clown made from clay has extra large feet. Both Venetian glass and stained glass versions of clowns are featured in the collection along with such diverse items as a jack-in-the-box, a dancing clown, a bell with a clown motif, and brass bookends.

Some clown figurines are juggling or playing instruments. One clown holds a bunch of balloons; another is shown riding a unicycle. A Charlie Chaplin doll perches on the edge of a display shelf; next to him a happy clown stands on his head.

A large painting in his office done by a Mexican artist features two clowns with a dog between them. On the opposite wall is a set of Gorham plates showing clowns in the different seasons of the year. Emmett Kelly's sad eyes stare out at the viewer from another painting.

What do patients say about his collection?

"They love it," Kolb answers. Surprisingly, he says "I get more reaction from adults than from kids." He thinks children - to whom he gives pencils with clown designs on them - might be in awe of the collection.

Kolb does not belong to any collectors clubs although he has read a number of books on clowning. He says his hobby not only gave him insight into what clowns do, but high regard for their work.

Kolb's wife takes pride in the collection, too, and laughs as she relates that people give clowns to her as gifts although she personally does not collect them. In addition to their daughter, the couple has a son, David, who lives in Pittsburgh. They have two grandchildren.

Do their grandchildren like the clown collection?

"They look at it and enjoy it," Kolb says. "They've very young, but they never touch."